Skopje, 14 July 2023 (MIA) — Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Fatmir Bytyqi in a Kanal 5 TV appearance said the newly reached general collective agreement for the public sector should be welcomed by everyone as it was the first time in 18 years that a govenrment had found a systemic solution and methodology for public sector salaries.

Previously, Deputy PM Bytyqi said, public sector employees' pay was regulated through "200 laws and bylaws" and "every third institution had a different way of defining their salaries."

"For the first time in the history of the Republic of North Macedonia since its independence, we have arrived at a systemic solution for public sector salaries, a methodology to calculate them and their annual growth," Bytyqi said.

Every public sector employee, he added, would know exactly what salary to expect both when starting out and at the zenith of their career.

"I know there has been some backlash against it," Bytyqi said, adding that public sector wages would be lower than those in the private sector.

"That's the logic. Nowhere, in any country, does the public sector have higher salaries than the private sector," he said. mr/